I wasn't aware I had caused you trouble at all. Where did this outburst come from???
I am quite well versed in canaries, remember I was also a breeder. I can only infer, being unfamiliar with overseas terminology, that the word variegated is used to refer to different mutations in the two countries. But I found this on an English canary breeder website (Canary Colours | Canary | Finches and Canaries | Guide | Omlet UK and it agrees with what my mentor who raises several hundred canaries a year told me when I got into canaries.
"The presence of melanin brings great variation to Canary colours and markings. Breeders categorise birds according to levels of this pigment in the following way:
Variegated canaries as defined in the United States are canaries with the white (or yellow) spot gene, which is called "pied" in other birds. If he has a white tail feather he's split to variegated. It shows as one or two white feathers and usually a white toenail or two. Variegated, as above, is defined as birds with at least 25% non-pigmented feathers. As a solid bird with one white feather, Sugar is a foul self (blue canary), but he is not variegated. Variegated does not refer to the black striations on the plumage.
This would be a variegated.
I am quite well versed in canaries, remember I was also a breeder. I can only infer, being unfamiliar with overseas terminology, that the word variegated is used to refer to different mutations in the two countries. But I found this on an English canary breeder website (Canary Colours | Canary | Finches and Canaries | Guide | Omlet UK and it agrees with what my mentor who raises several hundred canaries a year told me when I got into canaries.
"The presence of melanin brings great variation to Canary colours and markings. Breeders categorise birds according to levels of this pigment in the following way:
- Clear. These birds have no melanin at all, and therefore no variegation in their colours.
- Self. The opposite to the Clear type, these all-melanin Canaries have no lipochrome colours (yellow or red-based).
- Ticked. These have small, localized patches of melanin.
- Foul. Undoubtedly the least flattering of the many tags given to pet birds, these have a small number of light feathers in their wings or tail, on an otherwise dark coat.
- Variegated. A catch-all category used for anything that falls between ticked and foul Canary types. A ‘lightly variegated’ bird has less than 50% dark feathers; a ‘medium variegated’ is between 50 and 75%; and a ‘heavily variegated’ has in excess of 75% dark coloration – but less than 100%."
Variegated canaries as defined in the United States are canaries with the white (or yellow) spot gene, which is called "pied" in other birds. If he has a white tail feather he's split to variegated. It shows as one or two white feathers and usually a white toenail or two. Variegated, as above, is defined as birds with at least 25% non-pigmented feathers. As a solid bird with one white feather, Sugar is a foul self (blue canary), but he is not variegated. Variegated does not refer to the black striations on the plumage.
This would be a variegated.
